What has happened to the UK's environment and transport policy?

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Click image for full graphic. Carbon emissions are still a sign of industrial power. These figures from the authoritative US Energy Information Administration report show carbon emissions from the consumption of fuel for 2007 - the latest year available. This was the year that China overtook the US. But despite the advances of the growing Asian economies, this league table is still dominated by the west. Graphic: Paul Scruton

"The green belt is a Labour achievement and we intend to build on it." So said deputy prime minister John Prescott in January 1998. In fact what the government did go on to build upon was the Kyoto protocol on climate change that Prescott had helped deliver just months before. Now enshrined in UK law is an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and near-term carbon budgets the get us on the way.

The nation's carbon footprint has been shrinking, but largely due to the ongoing switch from coal to gas to generate electricity, the off-shoring of our manufacturing industry and its pollution and, latterly, the recession.

Our housing remains astoundingly draughty, venting heat to the skies where the soaring number of cheap flights have been carrying people to holidays in the sun. And in an irony that even "two jags" himself might appreciate, the number of two-car households doubled in the decade to 2008. Thankfully, road casualties have thankfully fallen by a quarter in that time, even though number of miles travelled by car has risen.

Rail travel and cycling are also on the rise now, but from a level way below that in the 1950s – a mere 2% of all journeys are now pedal-powered compared to Germany's 10%.

We also recycle our rubbish much more than before, but our aversion to incinerating the rest means we are still the landfill kings of Europe.The low-carbon industrial and transport future now backed by all the main political parties is also starting from the bottom – just 2% of our energy is currently renewable, placing us near the foot of the EU league.

But change is afoot – on home insulation, wind and wave power subsidies, carbon cuts for businesses, high-speed rail, and "clean coal". Labour and the Conservatives back new nuclear power stations – the Liberal Democrats don't. Labour wants a third runway at Heathrow, the others don't. Which party can deliver the changes you think are needed and at a price we can afford? That's where your vote comes in.

Click image for full graphic. Carbon emissions are still a sign of industrial power. These figures from the authoritative US Energy Information Administration report show carbon emissions from the consumption of fuel for 2007 – the latest year available. This was the year that China overtook the US. But despite the advances of the growing Asian economies, this league table is still dominated by the west. Illustration: Paul Scruton